Powdered medicine dispenser



W H949o M. R. FIELDS POWERED MEDICINE DISPENSER Filed Feb. 7, 1949 INVENTOR. [Zack Z? fields Patented May 117 1949 POWDERED MEDICINE DISPENSER Mack R. Fields, Libertyville', 11]., assignor to Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application February 7, 1949, Serial No. 74,979

9 Claims. (Cl. l28272) My invention relates to therapeutics and in cludes among its objects and advantages an immovement in the administration of medicament in powdered form. In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a dispensing container according to the invention;

Figure 2 is an end view of the screened end of the dispenser;

Figure 3 is a section of the covered dispenser on line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a detail of the screen edge before sealing;

Figure 5 is a detail similar to Figure 4 indicating an alternative closure; and

Figure 6 is a section similar to Figure 5 indicating a, perforated plate closure.

In the embodiment of the invention selected for illustration, I have shown a substantially cylindrical tube l8, having an end wall l6, forming a cup-shaped receptacle. The end wall l6 joins the tube is bymeans of a fillet H. The open end of the cup-shaped receptacle is covered by a fo raminated closure, such as a. screen 26 (Figure 3) or a perforated plate 42 (Figure 6), through which powdered material can sift. As packaged in the factory, a resilient cap I0 covers the foraminated end, and tightly seals the openings thereof to prevent exit of material from the dispenser while the cap is in place.

The closed end of the dispenser has a continuous flange 20 projecting beyond the exterior cylindrical surface of the tube [8. Two spaced retaining lugs 2| extend radially in opposite directions from the flange. An axial cylindrical handle portion 22 extends beyond the flange 20 to facilitate the manipulation of the dispenser and has its upper portion knurled at 24. The flange 20 and lugs 2| are available for positioning the dispenser in place in various assembled combinations, such as that of my co-pending application,

intended to be thrown away after the contents have been used. The unit may be filled by placing it in a position inverted from that of Figure 3 and depositing the powdered medicament in the chamber, after which the screen 26 is laid in place and the entire unit brought into contact under light pressure with a superimposed source of heat sufiicient to soften the plastic edge and imbed the edge of the screen in the softened plastic. This action may be facilitated both as to placement of the screen and as to quick fusion by providing the plastic body initially with a substantially square rabbet 28 indicated in Figure 4 extending about half way across the upper edge of the wall 30. In any event, the process of fusion is practiced so as to leave a small outward protuberance or bead 32 substantially in the plane of the screen 26.

The rubber cap [0 includes a cylindrical wall 34 of such a diameter that it grips the outer sur-, face ill with gentle friction, and a bottom 36 which is flat when assembled in Figure 3, but is originally molded bulging inwardly as indicated in dotted lines at 38., At the inside comer, where the walls 34 and 36 join, there is an annular groove 38 only a trifle larger than the lip 32. This provides practical assurance that during shipment, the bottom 36 will be held up in snug contact with the screen 26, so that when the user inverts the complete unit and lifts the rubber cap ofi, substantially all the powder charge will be inside the chamber below the screen 26.

Such a unit has several advantages for inhalation therapy. It can be arranged with the screen at the bottomas indicated in my above mentioned co-pending application, and periodically tapped or agitated todischarge a, minor fraction of its contents repeatedly until medication is completed. This gradual release of successive increments is a great advantage in enabling the patient/to inhale effectively, especially when the patient is able to discharge such an increment at the beginning of an inhalation quickly enough to waft the entire increment into the body passages and still have ample lung capacity to continue inhalation and to scavenge the initial inlet passage and secure penetration of the medicament deep into the. lungs or other body cavity. Such agitation may be automatic in response to inhalation, as in my co-pending application, or the patient can jolt the container with a finger or hand at the appropriate time. Automatic dislodgement of substantially the same increment can also be achieved by having the inhaled stream The same container with the screen at the bot- I tom can also produce a prolonged step-by-step gradual release of the medicament when the air stream merely wipes past or impinges on the screen 26. Such delivery lends itself readily either to actuation by the inhaled stream or tothe use of a bulb or other source of pressure to develop a stream carrying the powder, which powder-carrying stream can be delivered at suitable time intervals to mix with additional inhaled air, as by a nozzle placed in or near the opening of a nostril.

The screen is also effective to secure gradual delivery by increments when used in a position completely inverted from that of Figure 3. Obviously when the screen 26 is uppermost the effective force of the air stream directed against it needs to be a little greater than with the screen 26 lowermost. But, in the size indicated, the removal of the contents with the screen 26 uppermost is well within the lung capacity of even a feeble patient, employing any one of a variety of devices such as are commonly called snufi takers, including such a device as that of co-pending application Serial Number 54,792, filed October 15, 1948, by Howard H. Young and Douglas A. Loper.

When powder removal is practiced with the screen 26 uppermost the contour of thebottom of the chamber becomes significant. If an axial air current goes down the center of the chamber, and an annular air current rises around it, the air flow would tend to generate a torus, or annular vortex, at the bottom of its flow, which vortex will pick up the top grains of powder and carry them away. As the charge becomes exhausted, the fact that the fillet l4 extends in far enough to slightly constrict the outer portion of such a vortex, can result in substantially complete scavenging of the bottom so thatthe entire charge is delivered. It is also true that the same configuration will produce almost equally complete scavenging with a concentrated jet coming down one side of the chamber.

The mesh of the screen 36 should be such that it will support the powder mass in the chamber substantially without loss of material except when jarred or agitated. An important criterion of success in inhalation therapy is to secure the optimum grain size and crystal or nodule form necessary to enable the body passages of the patient to carry most of the medicament through to the desired place of deposit. With powdered sodium penicillin, for instance, the grain size that gives the best therapeutic results calls for a screen of about 60 mesh to secure such support from the screen. It will be obvious that other medicaments may secure the best therapeutic results,

when inhaled in grainspf different size or shape characteristics and that, in connection with each different medicament, the proper procedure is to ascertain by clinical test What grain characteristics give the best result and then to adjust the mesh of the screen to give the proper support to such grains.

In Figure 5 I have indicated the screen 26 covered by a thin aluminum foil 40, which is laid in place before sealing so that the heat sealing welds the screen and cover into the plastic material. With such a seal during shipment the user can easily rupture the foil 40 with a pencil point or a finger nail and tear it away before using the capsule.

In Figure 6 the foraminated closure 42 is a perforated plate with apertures 44 of predetermined dimensions. The plate 42 may be fused in or made a pressed fit in the rabbet 38. In such a construction a wider range of adaptability is afforded, because each hole 44 may be of the dimensions required to prevent discharge except by jolting, and thereafter the number of holes may be changed to vary the quantity delivered at each jolt.

This application is a continuation in part of my copending application Serial Number 24,319, filed April 30, 1948, which is in turn a continuation in part of my copending application Serial Number 772,104, filed September .4, 1947.

Others may readily adapt the invention for use under various conditions of service by emplaying one or more of the novel features disclosed or equivalents thereof. In practice, the size and number of the perforations in the foraminated closure, and the particle size of the powder to be dispensed, may be varied to secure any desired piecemeal rate of release. The dispenser may be filled with a single predetermined amount, or dose, or it may contain several doses, or an indeterminate amount with discharge dependent on themanner of use. As at present advised with respect to the apparent scope of my invention I desire to claim the following subject matter:

1. A dispensing container for dispensing finely divided solids into a stream of air to render them airborne, comprising, in combination: a cylindrical container body having an open end; a foraminated closure at said open end adapted to support finely divided solids and to permit them to sift through when jolted; spaced lugs projecting radially from said body remote from said closure for suspending said body; and handle means coaxial with said body and projecting axially beyond said lugs.

2. A dispensing container for dispensing finely divided solids into a stream of air to render them airborne comprising, in combination: a cy1indrical container body having an open end; a foraminated closure at said open end adapted to support finely divided solids and to permit them to sift through When jolted; means projecting radially from said body remote from said closure for suspending said body; handle means coaxial with said body and projecting therefrom in a direction away from said closure; said suspending means includin an encircling flange, and spaced lugs extending radially from the outer edge of said flange. Y

3. A dispensing container for dispensing finely divided solids into a stream of air to render them airborne comprising, in combination: a cylindrical container body having an open end; a foraminated closure at said open end adapted to support finely divided solids and to permit them to sift through when jolted; means projecting radially from said body remote from said closure for jolted; and a resilient cup sealing said foraminated closure; said cup having a closed end portion convex with respect to said closure in undistorted condition, whereby forcing said end portion against said closure distorts said end portion and causes said end portion to press against said closure to close all the foraminations thereof; said cup having side wall means integral with said end portion and adapted to encircle and grip said body adjacent said closure; said body having an externally projecting rim adjacent the peripheral edge of said closure; said cup having a groove positioned to receive said rim.

5. A dispensing container for dispensing finely divided solids into a stream of air to render them airborne comprising, in combination: a container body having an open end; a foraminated closure at said open end adapted to support finely divided solids and to permit them to sift through when jolted; and a resilient cup sealing said foraminated closure; said cup having a closed end portion convex with respect to said closure in undistorted condition, whereby forcing said end portion against said closure distorts said end portion and causes said end portion to press against said closure to close all the foraminations thereof; said cup having side wall means integral with said end portion and adapted to encircle and grip said body adjacent said closure.

6. A dispensing container for dispensing finely I divided solids into a stream of air to render them airborne comprising, in combination: a container body having an open end; a foraminated closure at said open end adapted to support finely'divided solids and to permit them to sift through when jolted; and a resilient cup sealing said foraminated closure; said cup having a closed end portion convex with respect to said closure in undistorted condition, whereby forcing said end portion against said closure distorts said end portion and causes said end portion to press against said closure to close all the foraminations thereof.

'7. A dispensing container for dispensing finely divided solids into a stream of air to render them airborne, comprising, in combination: a cylindrical container body having an open end'; a foraminated closure at said open end adapted to support finely divided solids and to permit them to sift through when jolted; said container bein completely sealed except for said foraminated closure; means projecting from said body remote from said closure and shaped forfastening said body in place by a rotary movement; and cylincharacteristics of said charge being such that the charge can be retained on said closure when undisturbed, but particles sift through readily under agitation in quantities approximately proportional to the extent of such agitation; said closure being sufiiciently open to permit an air jet to pass through and beyond it into the space inside said chamber, whereby airborne particles can be liberated through said closure by blowing a jet into said chamber through only part of the area of said closure; said chamber having a depth about twice its diameter; said chamber end opposite said foraminated closure having a central substantially flat portion, and a fillet joining the periphery of said flat portion to the longitudinal wall of said chamber.

9. A dispensing container for dispensing finely divided solids into a stream of air to render them airborne, comprising, in combination: a cylindrical container body having an open end; a foraminated closure at said open end adapted to support finely divided solids and to permit them to sift through when jolted; spaced lugs projecting radially from said body remote from said closure for suspending said body; said body including a portion projecting axially beyond said lugs and available as a handle.

, MACK R. FIELDS.

:REFERENCES crrnn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

, Number UNITED STATES PATENTS 

